City of Heroes Design Journal #11

A little over two years ago, a small group of developers founded a new company they decided to call Cryptic Studios. Locating itself in the high-tech center of San Jose, the team set up shop in rather small quarters, just as many other start-ups do, then went to work on its initial game project. We learned of its existence fairly soon thereafter, but as with the great majority of titles at this early stage, almost no information was forthcoming at that time; by far the most significant fact disclosed was that the concept was for a non-fantasy online world. This in itself was plenty to pique our interest and to keep us wanting to know more for months, until City of Heroes and its intriguing superhero theme were revealed last year - which instantly raised our interest to a whole new level.

Since that time, we and other fans have come to know that game takes place in the fictional American metropolis of Paragon City where the righteous defenders of justice face the challenge of protecting the city and its inhabitants from the threats posed by a variety of powerful criminal organizations that include super-villains, aliens, madmen, underground monsters, gangsters and more. Players take the roles of superheroes, creating characters by choosing among almost innumerable combinations of powers, skills, abilities and costumes before venturing forth to smite the constantly menacing forces of evil. Not surprisingly, items will play a role as well. In the latest episode of his continuing series, Lead Designer Rick Dakan lets us in on this element of the design and how it fits within the broader context of Cryptic's game.

Items and A Sense of Achievement

Okay, let's delve into some nuts and bolts-type game design stuff. Stuff, in fact, is the subject at hand. Items, equipment, weapons. You know, stuff. Items are a tremendously important part of most online RPGs. Heck, they're a big part of almost all RPGs - computer, console or tabletop. From my very first D&D character, a lot of the fun of playing RPGs was looking forward to that next magic sword or enchanted ring that would give my character a much-needed boost. This need continues to be a tremendous factor in all of the online RPGs out there right now, with the added complexity of trading and selling of items in the game to other players making the item issue all the more interesting. Either way, obviously there's enough complexity to items in an online game that they deserve some careful thought.

This might make one wonder why I didn't give them much thought in the beginning when I started thinking about City of Heroes. Well, with a few bat-exceptions, items don't play a particularly large part in most comics. Or if they do, it's just the one really powerful or iconic item, like Captain America's shield or Green Lantern's ring. The heroes don't usually acquire gobs of doodads that they use for a while until they find something better. Nine times out of 10, it's the characters' powers and personalities that define them.

And so, my original thought was to focus on the development of powers as one of the cornerstones of the player's experience in City of Heroes. You'll (hopefully) be glad to know that my thinking remains largely the same. Powers are, and continue to be a cornerstone to this game and definitely play the primary role in defining a hero. Indeed, it is only for those heroes (Superior Humans) whose paucity of powers defines them that we needed to really address items in a comprehensive manner. We knew we wanted to have them, but how to do it?

But step over here with me for a moment, into the realm of game design theory. For many games, items fulfill a very specific and terribly important role - they provide a sense of achievement. Acquiring and using better and rarer swords, wands, shields, magic rings and other gewgaws helps a player see a real difference between those early days and their current lofty status. After all, wizards get new spells to try out, but fighters, thieves and other less flashy fantasy heroes need new and better items to reach their full potential. Even wizards and priests get in on the action, with new spell-related items. Item acquisition sits right in the heart of our RPG heritage as a delicious carrot urging us to keep playing and getting more and more stuff.

In online games in particular, the acquisition of items is an important part of showing other people just how cool and powerful your character is. If you're wearing the ultra-rare panda armor and wielding the incredibly powerful blade of ultimate nullification, then anyone who happens to walk by you is bound to be impressed. This is, I think, a pretty cool little social dynamic. It's especially important in games where, when you start out, all the characters of a given class and race look very similar indeed. Then, having these different items plays a big role in setting your guy apart from that other 50th level knight. He's only got a blade of penultimate nullification.